Progressive Party () was a short-lived moderate left political party founded after the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

under the leadership of

Cho Bong-am Cho Bong-am (, 25 September 1898 – 31 July 1959) was a Korean socialist independence activist and politician, who ran for president in the South Korean presidential election in 1956. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Korea ...

. It was a major political force from 1956 to 1958, and fell apart in 1959.

History

The Progressive Party was founded in the aftermath of the

under Cho's leadership. Cho and his followers were able to build a wide coalition with the country's leftist forces. Cho also successfully created coalitions with right-wing forces opposed to

Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee (; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965), also known by his art name Unam (), was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisiona ...

's dictatorship. The party's founding and moderate success in Korea's hostile political environment is considered a large result of Bong-am's personal charisma. The Progressive Party advocated peaceful unification with North Korea, through strengthening the country's democratic forces and winning in a unified Korean election. Cho called for both anti-communist and anti-authoritarian politics, as well as advocating for social welfare policies for the peasants and urban poor. In the 1956 election, Cho ran against Rhee, the anti-communist

strongman Strongman is a competitive strength sport which tests athletes' physical strength and endurance through a variety of heavy lifts and events. Strongman competitions are known for their intensity, pushing athletes to their physical and mental limit ...

president. Cho lost with 30% of the vote, which exceeded expectations. Following the election, the Progressive Party broke apart due to factionalism.

Political position

The Progressive Party officially advocated social democracy, but was regarded as a liberal party. In fact, scholars in South Korea evaluated that the Progressive Party and Cho Bong-am were not German "

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

" but an American " progressive liberalism" route, which was also reported by

The Chosun Ilbo ''The Chosun Ilbo'' (, ), also known as ''The Chosun Daily,'' is a Korean-language newspaper of record for South Korea and among the oldest active newspapers in the country. With a daily circulation of more than 1,800,000, ''The'' ''Chosun Ilbo ...

, South Korea's right-wing conservative journalist. (At that time, in South Korean politics, the term "liberal" was often used by right-wing conservative and Minjudangkye forces in a similar sense to "anti-communist".) Cho, who led the party, proposed a policy to appease North Korea, affecting the

Sunshine Policy The Reconciliation and Cooperation Policy Towards the North (), colloquially referred to as Sunshine Policy () is one of the approaches for South Korea's foreign policy towards North Korea, lasting from 1998 to 2008 and again from 2017 to 2020. ...

of modern South Korean liberals. At the same time, however, Cho was a strong anti-communist and a believer in

liberal democracy Liberal democracy, also called Western-style democracy, or substantive democracy, is a form of government that combines the organization of a democracy with ideas of liberalism, liberal political philosophy. Common elements within a liberal dem ...

References

Banned political parties in South Korea Organizations banned under the National Security Act (South Korea) Banned socialist parties Defunct political parties in South Korea Political parties disestablished in 1958 Political parties established in 1956 Liberal parties in South Korea Progressive parties in South Korea Social democratic parties in Korea Social liberal parties {{SouthKorea-party-stub